Three of the semi-finalists in the 2013 Champions League t20 will be Indian Premier League sides but on Wednesday’s evidence, the trio of subcontinental powerhouses will do well to beware the danger posed by the fourth side, Trinidad and Tobago.
English: Cricketer Lendl Simmons playing a shot for the West Indies during the tour match against Leicestershire at Grace Road. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Needing only to win or escape with a narrow defeat against Chennai Super Kings today, Dinesh Ramdin’s men demolished MS Dhoni’s team by eight wickets with 29 balls to spare.
The Caribbean outfit were impressive from the moment Ravi Rampaul sent Michael Hussey’s off stump tumbling to the moment when Darren Bravo stroked the single that not only clinched the points but sent T&T to the top of the group and a semi-final against Mumbai Indians in Delhi.
The T&T bowlers restricted Chennai to a mere 118 on an admittedly slow pitch, Suresh Raina topscoring with 38; it was a fine collective performance distinguished particularly by Lendl Simmons, whose bowling accounted for Vijay and Raina and who also caught a couple of steeplers in the outfield. Simmons then stroked a beautifully controlled but also occasionally savage 63 off 41 balls with five boundaries and four sixes as T&T strolled home.
Unusually Chennai looked powerless to resist the batsman’s attack and only Raina (4-0-16-1) returned to the pavilion with too much to be happy about.
The other match on Wednesday offered more encouragement for supporters of the Indian short-form stuff. Cricket is often described as a game within a game and this axiom applied to today’s first match between Perth Scorchers and Mumbai Indians.
Scorchers were already eliminated from the competition; their aim was victory and the chance to return home with a prized scalp in their kitbags. Mumbai’s task was trickier. They had not only to win the match but they had to do so by a margin that would allow them to progress to a semi-final against - we thought - Chennai Super Kings by improving their net run rate and eliminating the excellent Otago Volts.
In the event the fanatical supporters of the Indian side need not have worried. Thrown into barely consolable grief by the departure of Sachin Tendulkar for a second-ball duck, Mumbai fans were soon celebrating as Dwayne Smith’s 48 off 25 balls and Rohit Sharma’s unbeaten 51 off 24 saw them to the brink of qualification, an honour which was sealed when Ambati Rayudu’s successive sixes off Ashton Agar saw them to their target of 150 in 13.2 overs.
Mumbai therefore annihilated the Scorchers with 6.4 overs to spare and they even had six balls grace in ensuring they reached the last four. It was a very impressive display of attacking batsmanship.
Earlier the Scorchers had made 149-6 off their 20 overs with Sam Whiteman making a well-judged 51 and Agar adding 35. On a sluggish wicket the general view of punditry and twitterati was that the Australian side’s total of 150 would take all the getting.
In the event it took very little getting at all and the Indian team breezed into a semi against T&T. Rajasthan Royals will play Chennai in the other tie.
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